JANUARY 2007 NEWSLETTER
This New Year should be the best yet for FOJ!! I am starting the year with great hope of accomplishing a great deal, with the help of all of you!
I just returned from a productive trip to Jamaica. We certified 13 Doctors and Nurse/Midwives in Neonatal Resuscitation at Cornwall Hospital in Montego Bay . Attendance wasn’t what we had hoped for, but we are continuing to refine the process, based on what we learn from every class we teach. These are just the 3rd sets of sessions we have held since the beginning of the program, so I feel we are making progress. The sessions in Kingston were cancelled, due to unforeseen circumstances related to the Malaria outbreak there.
A friend, and Negril.com message board member, Bill Smith was kind enough to take pictures at one of the sessions. The proud Nurse/Midwives on the right, were from Sav Hospital and Cornwall Regional.
On this trip, I was pleased to finally meet someone I have come to know only through emails. Kaye Schendel is a director of student activities at University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse. She has been organizing student volunteer work trips to Negril for many years. FOJ has assisted with some of these trips in the past, in small ways, but Kaye is the driving force behind these projects. I was happy to meet with Kaye and the students and hear their experiences from this trip. FOJ helped find one project for them, which was to paint at Mr. Airy School, just outside Negril. The dedication and spirit of “giving” of these young adults is refreshing – not your typical Spring Breakers!! I look forward to hearing their stories, which they have promised to send to me - with pictures!! I will pass them along to you in future newsletters.
Another visit I made this trip was to Little London High School and Rocky Hill Basic School. Both schools continue to have needs. At Rocky Hill, a fence and dry erase boards to use as partitions in the large classroom are just two of the needs. The rendering of the outside of the building still needs to be done. You can see below how close the school grounds are to the road. The existing fence was meant to be temporary and is not sturdy enough to protect the children, as you can see below.
At Little London High School, the needs are even greater. The Negril Rotary Club is helping with those needs, but they need our help as well. This school teaches important skills to students who are not meeting academic standards, mostly in reading. I would compare it to a vocational school in the US. Without this school, many of these kids would be lost to gangs and the street.
Many classrooms don’t have basic equipment, which includes: sewing machines, blenders and mixers in the Home Economic Department; the welding shop just got their first welding machine, but need another, as well as protective gear, and other basic tools; the library needs more books; since many students don’t read well; a computer and projector are needed for teaching many classes. The biggest need here is also a fence. The students’ safety is at risk from local youths who come on the campus to try to rob the students.
Learning to sew, with ONE sewing machine for a class of about 15!
Eager students in the welding shop, but they lack equipment.
A very old model that is cracked, but still being used, in the science room.
The fence that needs to be replaced with a cement wall.
The school will be prioritizing their needs and will send the information to me. We will then decide if it will be more cost effective to raise money and purchase the items there, or get the items here and ship them. Either way, we will need your help. Please click here if you would like to make a donation for this, or any other project.
A few final updates:
This is a note I got from the Grand Prize winners of the raffle held at the FOJ benefit in September: (The prize was a week’s stay at Negril Tree House, donated by Gail Jackson, owner, and airfare donated by Apple Vacations.)
Cal and I want to let you know our trip to the Tree House Resort in Negril was wonderful. The weather was perfect and even though it did rain a couple of times, it was so warm that we just sat under the umbrella on the beach and relaxed to the sounds of the raindrops. The resort doesn't have a hotel with rooms. Instead it has octagonal shaped buildings interspersed throughout a wonderful garden area. Each building is private from the others and houses 4 rooms down and 4 up. The accommodations were very clean and nice. We had our own porch that looked over a beautiful tropical garden full of flowering trees, bushes and plants. A 2-minute walk through the garden trails took us to the beach. The sea is crystal clear and warm. The resort hires only Jamaican people and they were friendly, kind and courteous. Another plus was they sing as they work and their voices are clear, strong and deep--they sing with their souls. We loved every minute of our trip and plan on buying another raffle ticket this year. Can we be so lucky as to win again?? !! Hope so. If not, we'll certainly take a trip back to the TreeHouse on our own.
Also wanted to tell you we had Clive's Transportation Service and they were great--on time, fun, knowledgeable and safe drivers (as safe as you can be on their roads!) and friendly. I would highly recommend them.
Thanks so much for all of your help getting us set up for our fabulous vacation.
Cal and Sally Staver
Freeport, Illinois
Early plans are already underway for this year’s benefit. No date has been set,
but it will be in the fall and on a Saturday night. Our plan is to have a great
raffle again, open to anyone who wants to buy a ticket. We also hope to have a
2nd good prize with tickets only available to those who attend the
benefit. The location is yet to be determined, but will be conveniently located
near an abundance of hotel rooms for those of you who would like to come from
out of town. Watch future newsletters for more updates.
Progress has been made at the Torrington School, outside Savanna La Mar. You might remember reading about this project in the January 2006 newsletter. Money raised by FOJ member Hal Harrison was used to purchase the shipping container you see in the pictures. It is being modified to house more classrooms and an office for the teachers. Thank you to FOJ members Christina and James Dalton for the update and pictures.
That’s it for now. I apologize for the length of the newsletter, but I know pictures say more than words.
Please donate now, if you can, so we can continue with these and other projects.
Marcia Burke, Director
Friends Of Jamaica, USA
TOGETHER WE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
